The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch

Like many of Arizona's elected officials, Governor Jan Brewer has offered her condolences to the family of slain Border Patrol Agent Nicolas Ivie, who was killed this morning while on patrol.

Unlike many of Arizona's elected officials, Brewer decided to give her statement a political bent, wagging her finger (mournfully!) at the federal government for their "failure" at securing our border with Mexico.

"What happens next has become all-too-familiar in Arizona. Flags will be lowered in honor of the slain agent. Elected officials will vow to find those responsible. Arizonans and Americans will grieve, and they should. But this ought not only be a day of tears. There should be anger, too. Righteous anger — at the kind of evil that causes sorrow this deep, and at the federal failure and political stalemate that has left our border unsecured and our Border Patrol in harm's way. Four fallen agents in less than two years is the result.

"It has been 558 days since the Obama administration declared the security of the U.S.-Mexico border 'better now than it has ever been.' I'll remember that statement today."

We could all go into in-depth debates regarding deportation numbers, or traffic numbers of undocumented immigrants over the past number of years (and undoubtedly Brewer would claim credit for anything positive) but today just isn't the day, Governor.

Capitalizing on the event of a man dying in the service of his country to look down upon policies you disagree with isn't right and, strangely, tends to make you look like an ass.

The governor's full statement can be seen below the jump.

"Arizona has lost another Border Patrol agent.

"In the dark hours before daybreak, one agent was killed and another injured while on-duty along Arizona's southern border. It is believed they were responding to an alerted ground sensor in a remote area near Bisbee, a short distance north of the border. In a tragic coincidence, these agents were assigned to Brian Terry Station — newly dedicated and named for a U.S. Border Patrol agent murdered under similar circumstances in Arizona less than two years ago.

"More recently, in May 2011, we lost two more agents — Eduardo Rojas, Jr. and Hector Clark — when they were killed in a vehicle accident while pursuing suspected drug smugglers near Gila Bend.

"What happens next has become all-too-familiar in Arizona. Flags will be lowered in honor of the slain agent. Elected officials will vow to find those responsible. Arizonans and Americans will grieve, and they should. But this ought not only be a day of tears. There should be anger, too. Righteous anger — at the kind of evil that causes sorrow this deep, and at the federal failure and political stalemate that has left our border unsecured and our Border Patrol in harm's way. Four fallen agents in less than two years is the result.

"It has been 558 days since the Obama administration declared the security of the U.S.-Mexico border ‘better now than it has ever been.' I'll remember that statement today."